I met some real live Wisconsinites tonight :)

[Blue_In_AK]

at the pre-Iditarod Mushers' Banquet, of all places. The woman immediately to my right at our table was a doctor at the VA clinic in Wasilla. She moved up here from Wisconsin a few years ago after visiting Alaska and falling in love with the state. Her parents, sitting to the right of her, had just come up to visit and experience the Iditarod. The doctor seemed rather embarrassed about being from Wisconsin -- kind of like we Alaskans felt in 2008 with the whole Palin phenomenon. (We really didn't want all the attention.)

I approached the subject of Wisconsin's problems with some caution, not wanting to risk getting into a big heated argument at a nonpolitical event, but as it turned out, her father is a retired teacher and is very upset by what's going on. She told me that part of Walker's bill would decrease her father's monthly pension payment, even though he's been retired for years. She said it was very upsetting to them because they thought they had a defined pension for life, with no changes.

Is it legal for him to try to do this? What happened to contract law?

[Hannah Bell]

1. contracts are only sancrosanct if you work on wall street.